


no matter what

by dozmuffinxc



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 08:23:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19058899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dozmuffinxc/pseuds/dozmuffinxc
Summary: I'm amping up to write some commission pieces (whaaaat). In the meantime, have this little exercise in angst with everyone's favorite Dynamic Duo!





	no matter what

Lup wakes with a start in an unfamiliar bed, tangled up in blankets which, in the time it takes for her to fully process her surroundings, she mistakes for grasping hands. She swipes at a tangle of curls that are matted to her forehead with sweat, and for one alarming moment, she’s convinced it’s fresh blood.

The nightmare is still fresh: in it, she’s being dragged across the floor by impossibly long black arms that are almost indistinguishable from the shadows into which they pull her. Her fingernails tear as she attempts resist, but they’re too strong, and she knows she’s seconds away from being swallowed up completely. She screams for Taako to help her, but he’s being led away by a faceless Lucretia, her robes matted with gore as he stares at her blankly over his shoulder. She pleads for him to come back. 

_It’s me, Lup,_ she sobs, but he just narrows his eyes and says, _Who?_

She grits her teeth against the memory and uses her senses to ground herself in the present. She’s at Taako and Kravitz’s apartment; they’re having a sleepover; she’s in the middle of the nest of blankets and pillows they built earlier in the evening and Taako is right next to…

She turns to her right, but Taako is gone. The blankets are matted from the weight of a body, but the indentation is cold and the anxiety she just finished tamping down blossoms in her chest with white hot intensity as she leaps to her feet and begins to search for her brother.

Lup is still getting used to this apartment, and in her panic, she tries three wrong doors before she notices a light in what she assumes is the kitchen from the sound of clinking dishes within. She throws this last door open and almost sobs with relief to find Taako at the stove, his back to her. She rushes up behind him and throws her arms around his chest, burying her face in his braid and breathing in the achingly familiar scent of cinnamon and cloves.

“Hey,” he says, turning in her embrace. He tugs at one of her loose curls, his eyes searching her face with a moment of unguarded wonder before he checks himself and beams his signature, gap-toothed smile.

“Hey back,” she grins. “Wha’cha doin’?”

He frowns and pulls back slightly, suddenly bashful.

“I wanted to surprise you with your favorite muffins,” he says, “but I… I couldn’t remember whether you liked vanilla in the batter.”

It’s then that Lup sees four sets of mixing bowls discarded on the counter, the blueberry-studded batter within already tacky. When she looks back at Taako, he’s worrying his lip with his teeth and staring at the floor, something he hasn’t done since they were children.

“Hey, it’s okay. Let me help, yeah?”

He nods and hands her the bowl he had been working on before she arrived.

As she accepts the bowl from Taako and begins stirring the sticky batter within, she tries not to think too hard about the unfamiliar worry lines etched around her brother’s eyes. They had always carried their share of emotional baggage in the past, but at least before, they had carried it together.

 _We will again_ , Lup thinks as she watches Taako preheat the oven. _No matter what._


End file.
